Father arrested in Benidorm after boy found alone on top of 21st-floor air-conditioning unit

There was no adult nearby, and any wrong movement could have ended in tragedy. The neighbour alerted the building's caretaker, who immediately called the Local Police.

Officers received the report at around 11.05pm and rushed to the building on Avenida Bilbao. The first officers on the scene struggled to locate the child in the darkness and couldn't see clearly inside the flat. They kept gathering information from residents until a neighbour let them onto the balcony of the flat next door, from where the alarm had first been raised.

It was only then that officers confirmed how serious the situation was: the child was sitting outside the building on the air-conditioning unit of a 21st-floor flat, exposed to a fall that could have been fatal.

One officer reached the boy and grabbed him by the arm to stop him falling, while a second officer held on to his colleague to keep the rescue steady. For those tense moments, the child hung suspended above the drop, held only by the officer's grip.

Firefighters had been called as a precaution, but the officers managed to bring the boy to safety before they were needed, with one of them risking his own safety to keep hold of the child until he was back inside.

The caretaker then found a spare set of keys to the holiday apartment, allowing police to bring the child indoors and away from the danger. Inside, there was no adult responsible for his care, though officers found documents and personal belongings that helped them identify the boy's father and begin trying to find him.

When the father returned to the building, he told investigators he had left his son alone while he went out to do some shopping. He also told officers that the boy has autism spectrum disorder.

Police arrested the man on suspicion of temporary child neglect and took him to the police station, where the case is being prepared for the relevant authorities.

The quick actions of the neighbour, the caretaker and the officers prevented what could have ended in tragedy. Investigators are now trying to establish how the child managed to get out onto the exterior of the flat and end up sitting on the air-conditioning unit while he was alone.